DEJECTED Queen of the South star Steve Tosh admits being a Hampden loser feels twice as bad the second time around.

Veteran midfielder Tosh was part of the Gretna side that went down on penalties to Hearts in the Scottish Cup final two years ago after a battling 1-1 draw.

And after losing 3-2 in yesterday’s National Stadium showpiece, the 35-year-old joked that he is so sick of losing he is ready to ask for a UEFA Cup exemption!

“We’re all obviously gutted but we gave it everything, especially in the second half,” he said.

“I’m twice as devastated this time as I was when I lost the final with Gretna because I’m getting a bit sick of picking up runners-up medals.

We’re all obviously gutted but we gave it everything, especially in the second half

Steve Tosh

“I’d much prefer a scrappy game where I got a winner’s medal than another good game where I lose.

“Like my last cup final we’ve come away with a lot of plaudits even though we’ve lost.

“Hopefully if I get a third chance it’s not the hat-trick.

“As for Europe, well I hate the UEFA Cup – I went to Derry the last time around with Gretna and got absolutely horsed!

“I think I’ll ask the manager for a week off so I can go to Spain or something and avoid the UEFA Cup this time.”

Tosh is convinced his First Division fighters didn’t get the rub of the green as they went down 3-2 to Rangers.

He pointed to referee Stuart Dougal’s refusal to award a penalty when striker Sean O'Connor went down in the box under Steven Whittaker’s first-half challenge as evidence of bias towards the Ibrox side and he also suggested the free kick that led to Gers’ opener should not have been awarded.

But Tosh has no doubts that the better team won at Hampden.

He said: “I thought it was a very weak free kick decision leading to their first goal and I thought certain other decisions that went against us were very easy to make.

“Certain decisions we should have got, like Sean O’Connor getting pushed over in the box – that was as blatant as the nose on the end of my face.

“But who’s going to get a decision against Rangers in the cup final at the Rangers end?

“It wasn’t given but it’s not sour grapes – the better team won.

“At half-time some people might have thought we were ready to collect our losers’ medals there and then but we gave it a go and that shows the character we’ve got at the club. We let ourselves down in the first half but we made up for that in the second half.”

Tosh grabbed the goal that signalled the start of Queens’ stirring second-half comeback and was the first to admit that the ball might never have crossed the line had it been a more conventional strike.

He added: “I saw Sean get to the byeline and I knew he was going to drill it across and I managed to get a touch on it.

“I actually threw myself at it and I was pretty sure it would get over the line.

“I’d much prefer it to come off my thigh than for me to have to header it – at least I knew it would go in that way!

“But as you could tell we hadn’t been working on celebrations this week.”

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